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My mods to the Ruby Roo!

Okay guys, I have been on this site for a while and have been slowly upgrading things on my boat. I have posted about some of them, but never posted any photos. So now I am going to make up for my slackness in this thread. My boat is a 2001 Outback DD.

I will start with the sub box I did a couple of years ago. I knew from doing car audio that the sub should not face the cockpit and should be "loaded" to get the best sound. I also knew that my bow is easy to dunk when loaded up. So I designed the box to replace the drivers footwell panel and to sit up off the floor with the sub firing forward and down a bit. I made it from MDF since it is so dense and stable, and I coated the box with many layers of polyurethane and paint, but the moisture has still gotten to it and the MDF has started to swell up some. I think for the next box, I will just go ahead and coat the whole thing with epoxy resin. I used an Infinity Perfect 10 since it has a tiny enclosure requirement, and Crutchfield had them 2 for 1 the other year. It is powered by a Hart HT-400 that was in the boat when I bought it, but still works great. I am running it bridged and I think the RMS output is 150Wx1, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that sub is very efficient and it sounds excellent. Here are some photos.

Another thing I did was add a second battery. After doing all the stereo upgrades, one battery just wasn't cutting it, and it seemed that the factory alternator couldn't keep up. I have had to rely on my jump box a few too many times. Originally the battery was under the observers seat, but I moved it to the rear ski locker to get more weight in the rear and to free up storage space being the seat. It didn't fit very well in the ski locker, and when I added a second one, I know that I had to move it again. I realized that there was space under the floor up near the helm that looked like they could fit up there. So jigsaw in hand, I cut a large hole in the floor. I made it just big enough to hold the two battery boxes. I had to dig out a bunch of the spray foam, which took forever. I wired them both up with my new Blue Sea Add-A-Battery kit, and made a new carpeted piece to cover the hole and I was done. The main issue is that the batteries are just tall enough so that the new floor piece had to be taller than I wanted it to be. So now, I have one stereo battery and one starting battery, with no loss of storage space. While I was at it, I hardwired a plug for a trickle charger for the stereo battery, so when I get home, I can just plug in the charger without having to take up the floor. Here are some photos of this project.

One project I just finished up for this season was dealing with the hull spreading and making a windscreen. Yes, I have one of the boats that exhibits the infamous hull spread "slash" windshield won't close properly problem. I was just going to make a walk though windscreen, but I realized if the windshield doesn't fit properly, it would only halfway work. So for the windscreen, I had a piece of 1/2" PVC board that I cut down to the right size. Then I mounted two aluminum channels in the bow walkway for the PVC to slide into. It worked fine, but looked boring. I originally wanted to use smoked lexan, but I would have had to order it and it probably would have been expensive, or at least more expensive than free, which is how much the PVC cost me. Anyway, I got the idea to put the Roo on it. So I traced the Roo on there and then used a router to dig out the PVC in that shape. Then I masked over the whole thing and cut out the masking where the Roo was cut in. Several coats of spray paint (OSHA Safety Red!) and some sanding later, I have a windscreen. For the windshield, I bought some aluminum pieces at Lowes and extended the center windshield frame to extend over to where it is supposed to, fabbed them up, painted them, mounted them with 3M automotive tape, and then relocated the turn latches. So now I have a totally functioning windshield and windscreen, and it is so nice. No more stuffing life jackets and towels to block the wind, and no more ill fitting windshield slowly grinding the aluminum away. Photos...

Love the sub. When I put one in my O/B I just located a 10" marine sub high on the hull side of the compartment behind the observer's seat and used a standard enclosure. It never got wet. The boat is small and open across the whole nose so the whole bow turned into a subwoofer. It worked great.

Love the windscreen. The Roo touch just makes it. Post pics of the whole boat when you get a chance, please.

wow - that was a BALLSY move cutting into the floor like that. I'd NEVER be able to do it but props to you for making it happen. I like the wind blocker. You should take the wind blocker out and give us the exact dimensions so we can make our own. Looks great!